Bloomington, other Hoosier cities speak up for human rights ordinances

The cities argue the conservative advocacy groups that filed the case against local human rights ordinances do not have standing and that they have improperly argued hypothetical “what if” situations.

But the conservative groups counter that Bloomington’s human rights ordinance and similar ordinances in Indianapolis, Carmel and Columbus could have a chilling effect on religious freedom, particularly for evangelical Christian groups that oppose same-sex marriage and LGBT rights.

The Indiana Family Institute and American Family Association of Indiana filed the lawsuit last December and were later joined by Indiana Family Action, seeking to bring back the state’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act in its original form in order to provide heightened protections for religious rights.

Represented by prominent conservative attorney Jim Bopp, best known for his successful argument of Citizens United before the U.S. Supreme Court, the groups asked the court to throw out the RFRA “fix” that prevented people from using the state law to claim religious grounds for getting around local and state nondiscrimination laws.